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We wanted to get through Yugoslavia as quickly as possible, so after visiting the Skopje market again we hit the potholed motorway to Belgrade. We only stopped to take a few photos of the horses and carts that ventured onto the road, or to get petrol at a layby with burnt out cars and gypsy windscreen washers. We made it to Belgrade without incident but when driving through the outskirts we noticed Mary the car was heating up and warning lights had come on. We discovered the fan belt was broken - and the spare was too small. We improvised with a pair of my tights and managed to get off the motorway by using a section closed for roadworks - ending up in the carpark of a sports centre from where we rang the AA in England. They had a tow truck there in 15 minutes. At the service station they fixed Mary immediately, while we were amazed to see their pet monkey. We drove around the city (tall grey tower blocks interspersed with typical ramshackle brick and tile cottages) until we found a place to camp overlooking the Danube, where we spent a night tormented by mosquitoes. The next day it took ages to get out of Belgrade as the motorway system was in chaos and disrepair, but eventually we made it and just kept driving till we reached Slovenia (then still part of Yugoslavia). We stopped at a small town where people in the street laughed and pointed at XXXXXX in his shorts then drove on through Zagreb, finally stopping at an alpine spa resort where we cooked our chicken outside in the rain and looked forward to crossing the border the next morning.